Umbrellas, Paris 1951

This is "Umbrellas, Paris," by Robert Frank, and it’s a photograph— a way of seeing. Frank’s images are less about perfect representation and more about capturing a feeling, a mood. Here, the umbrellas create a kind of visual rhythm. They're dark, almost ominous, but they also have a softness, a blurriness that makes them feel human. Look at the way the light hits the top of each umbrella, there’s a kind of halo effect there, like a painting. The graininess adds to this effect, it breaks the image down into smaller parts of light and shade. You know, it reminds me a bit of Atget, but less romantic, more detached. Frank is more interested in the grit, in the everydayness of life. His art shows us the world isn’t always what we expect it to be.